There have been calls for electric vehicle chargers in Thurles to be connected once and for all.
The Parnell Street and Slievenamon Road car parks in the town had EV chargers installed last April but have not yet been connected to the electricity supply.
The issue was raised at this month’s meeting of the Thurles Municipal District by Cllr Jim Ryan who said that the infrastructure is already there, they just need to be connected by the ESB.
Speaking to Tipp FM, Cllr Ryan said that having to wait almost a year to get these chargers connected is simply not good enough:
“The council have provided the infrastructure for these points to be up and running but unfortunately the ESB have yet to connect them and it’s just not good enough because the County Council confirmed to me that they applied last April to the ESB to get these electric vehicle charging points connected and to be working and what, nearly 10 months later they’re still not working.
“So I’ve asked the council to put as much pressure on the ESB to get these working and they agreed to do that, they agreed that it’s not good enough that we’re waiting that long for these electric vehicle charging points to be up and running in Thurles.”
Cllr Ryan also said that having electric vehicle chargers that are installed but not working is a disincentive to anyone in Tipp thinking of buying an EV.
“There is infrastructure put in place in the public car parks in Thurles but the ESB, 10 months later have still not made those available or have not put them into operation for people to use and that’s just not good enough, particularly at a time when the Green Party are saying everybody should be going off buying electric vehicles.
“This is not an incentive for anyone to buy electric vehicles when it’s taken nearly 10 months or 12 months for the ESB to connect them and it’s just not good enough.”
